She rolled her eyes. “My Uncle Harmon’s Bluetick hound has more control than you do.”
His rich seductive chuckle vibrated through her as he took the next exit and headed west. “You didn’t answer my question.”
“Why do you want to know?”
He shrugged. “You asked about my brothers and their SO’s, and I imagine you’ve worked a lot of weddings, but you don’t strike me as the romantic type.”
Romance only lasts until the credits roll.
That was Grandma’s philosophy. Jo only knew she’d never felt romantic toward Chase. “No. It was never like that.”
“What was it like?”
“Convenient.” She sighed.
Another grunt, one that sounded a lot like he compared her one attempt at a relationship to his off-the-chart body count. But he was right. Both were devices of avoidance.
And maybe Brooke was right, too. Maybe Avery was the perfect guy to relieve her of her virginity. And to show her what Chase hadn’t. The attraction was there. It was something to consider.
But right now, she had other, more important things to think about. “Tell me about Bryce and Kate.”
Jo’s heart broke a little for Kate and Bryce as Avery revealed their story of teen love and betrayal that tore them apart. It gave her a place to start, but she’d still need to get to know them for who they were now.
He finished with, “Don’t get your hopes up. They’re nowhere near marriage.”
“But your mom said they—”
“Mom doesn’t have the whole story.”
“Then why am I here?”
“Because even if things don’t work out with Bryce and Kate, you’re still getting your name out there. You’ll have four women, all of them with substantial influence, on your side.”
Her lips twisted into a frown. “And because you want to convince your mom we’re real, so she’ll pay less attention to your other activities.”
He shrugged and pulled off the highway and through a black wrought iron gate.
She glanced at all the boxes in the back. “I wish you’d told me before. Now, it’s going to look like I’m trying too hard?”
“It’ll be fine.”
“Easy for you to say,” she huffed. He wasn’t the one with a reputation on the line. “I’ll sort out what we need, maybe a couple boxes of petite fours and choux buns. The rest can stay in the truck.”
“Won’t it spoil?”
“It’ll be fine.” Her stomach dipped. The mille-feuille would ruin without refrigeration, but that was the price of being overly ambitious.
They crested a hill that overlooked a valley, and Jo gasped, forgetting everything but the majestic view ahead. It was like something out of a fucking movie. Cattle grazed on one side. A lake stretched across the other. And nestled in a cluster of oaks, atop a small rise, a huge sprawling mansion glistened in the golden sun.
“Holy fuck.” She was totally out of her league. Hell, she wasn’t even in the ballpark.
Chapter Nine
“This way.” Avery led Jo, both loaded down with boxes of desserts, through the large open foyer of his family home, the sound of their boots on tile echoing off a twenty-foot ceiling. The sound made her feel smaller than the boxes in her arms.
She stared up and gasped at a crystal chandelier almost as big as her car. Light fractured off it in hard, blinding angles—beautiful and dangerous. She wouldn’t be standing under that thing for too long if she could help it.
To the right, a massive staircase wound to a second level. To the left, a living room with a huge rock fireplace could have been her apartment times three.
